Confinement transitions (H-mode) in JET inner wall limiter plasmas

Abstract

Transitions in confinement with characteristics of H-mode are observed in JET inner wall limited plasmas in experiments performed at a magnetic field of 0.8 T and at a current of 0.9 MA, using up to 7 MW of auxiliary heating power. These transitions in confinement are short lived, with durations of up to 20 ms, but the overall stored energy increases by up to 5% and edge density by up to 20%. The termination of the period of good confinement correlates with the observation of a burst of magnetic fluctuations, similar to those associated with edge localized modes (ELMs).These transitions in confinement also correlate with a significant decrease in the density fluctuations measured by the microwave reflectometer and a small decrease in the magnetic fluctuations measured using ‘Mirnov’ probes, accompanied by a reduction of the D(alpha) emission. The comparison of the fluctuations in the limiter H-mode in JET with the divertor H-modes shows a similar behaviour, in particular the reduction of the fluctuation levels at high frequencies (f > 10 kHz) and an increase in the fluctuation levels at lower frequencies (f < 10 kHz). The strong electrostatic nature of the plasma edge turbulence is confirmed, where a reduction of up to ∼50% in the density fluctuation levels correlates with an increase of up to 50% in the confinement time during the transition to H-mode. However, the importance of instabilities with a dominant magnetic component (such as ELMs) is also highlighted, which cause significant increase in transport, including the loss of the good confinement phase in limiter H-modes.